kdrobertson

The Series No-one Asked For (But Has To Happen)

So I've been frustrated lately for reasons I won't retread (but have been in the recent Patreon posts). When I'm frustrated, I like to write and I often work on new stuff, because my existing series are big, complex, and require a lot of effort and thought that can be difficult to process.

In short, I still like to write for fun. One of my objectives as an author is to ensure I still enjoy writing, as lots of people who wrote as a hobby often find themselves hating writing when they mak...

April/May Public Update

(FYI, this is largely the same as what I posted in the Patreon updates earlier this month about my income stuff, but expressed more... rationally. Although I've added a bit toward the end following the recent Archer post.)

It’s been a slow month, but I have a bit of news on the writing front. There’s also some fairly serious news in this update.

First, my next release(s) will be Heretic Spellblade 6 and 7. I’ll be writing this as a single large book and splitting it into two...

April/May Patreon Update

It's nearly the end of the month so I should probably give some sort of update, given it's been a quiet month.

I'm back after my short break, although my focus right now is mostly preparing to write Spellblade. There's some prep work I need to take care of before I jump back in and try to knock out a ton of words.

The short version is that it's unlikely I'll post any preview chapters next month. Instead, I'll likely put up the planning post, potentially a larger post about some no...

An Abandoned Neural Wraith Idea

So I'm (mostly) taking that break I promised, although I'm also still thinking about writing while also preparing to overhaul my Heretic Spellblade notes before I jump back into a long writing session for it.

But in the aftermath of Book 3 I had a crazy idea for Book 4 that I more or less knew I couldn't write, particularly as the series risks becoming more of a passion project. So I might as well talk a bit about that idea.

The Conceit

Nick starts the book in Babylon, but...

Follow-up Post

This is a just a quick follow-up to the Post About Problems I did on the weekend. I got an overwhelming amount of feedback, and although I responded to a bunch of comments, lots of people probably don't read those.

Also, the Spellblade 5 audio comes out tonight for those interested. Hopefully it doesn't have some horrendous Audible bug and completely tank again.

I made that post as a way to summarize where my thoughts were going. I've been putting off making decisive acti...

A Post About Problems

I had some long, depressing post about the downtrend I've been facing, but figure it can be summarized without so much detail.

The simple version is that I made a Patreon post after Spellblade 5 about my worries that the fundamental shift in the harem genre would result in an algorithmic shift that would cause my books to sell much worse. That's eventuated, despite the tantrum a bunch of people and authors threw after that post got leaked.

In short, I have a few choices.

I c...

Neural Wraith 3 - Detailed Commentary

Intro

As always, this is the commentary post for Neural Wraith 3.

This post will include broad commentary on Neural Wraith 3, including many of the editing decisions I made (and didn’t make). As such, it is loaded with massive spoilers. I will try to avoid spoiling any of my other series, however. If you haven’t read the entire book, come back later. This post will be waiting for you. Also, the commentary is fairly long, so feel free to read it in c...

Neural Wraith - Another Cover Preview

I showed off the Kushiel cover preview at the start of Feb, but I have another cover now. Probably the last for a while, as I have a healthy backlog of covers to keep me stocked.

This one depicts Hel. She changes outfits and is suitably villainous looking here for a more questionable role in Book 5. Oh, and there's a neat Yggdrasil logo present.

I might tone down the red in the typography, as it's a fair bit stronger than the background colors (particularly for the number). But ot...

Neural Wraith 3 is Live

After a messy start to the year, Neural Wraith 3 is out and you can get it right now. Nick is back with the Archangels to investigate a sprawling attack on Babylon’s neural implants, with lots of intrigue and corruption.

Get it on Amazon: https://www.amazon.com/dp/B0BVYNXNT4

Please leave a review and share it around. You’ve likely heard the spiel plenty of times, but it does help. Neural Wraith in pa...

Neural Wraith 3 - Cover (High Resolution)

Book's out today, so here's the high res cover for those who enjoy those. Textless version and full jacket cover is included. If you order the paperback, you get the full thing on it.

There are some nice details on this cover. Helena's barcode and silver bracelets. The inclusion of some names from the book in the holographic screens.

As I've said before, I really like the Neural Wraith covers. They're well-drawn, each color hews to a specific color palette (which works with the ti...

Break Time

Before anybody panics, Neural Wraith 3 is done and will release on Friday as planned. The final version has been uploaded to Amazon and I'll upload the final chapters to Patreon tomorrow.

This is more a heads up about what comes afterward.

When I delayed Neural Wraith 3, I needed to take a break. The book's done, so that time is now. But the delay has also been a kick in the ass to fix some other issues that have been lurking for a while and that I've kept ignoring while trying to...

Neural Wraith 2 Audio is Live

Neural Wraith 2’s audio is out and you can actually download and listen to it now. If you received an error or it wouldn’t add to your library, try again now and it should work. If it doesn’t, let me know and I’ll follow up. No clue what happened, other than weird Audible stuff. A huge thanks to everyone who let me know that it finally works, too.

Audible US: https://www.audible.com/pd/B0BW18SWY2

Upcoming Audiobooks

Upcoming audiobook release reminder time. Not much else to say, other than Neural Wraith 3 will be out at the end of the month (and sorry again for the delay).

Neural Wraith 2’s audio releases on March 21st, so feel free to pre-order it. I’ve been listening to it during breaks while working on the 3rd book and it’s a delight as always to hear Stephanie’s voice work. She has a real talent for making villainous characters sound amazing, and hearing her voice a new mainframe, Lilit...

Neural Wraith 3 - Planning

So, with some extra time to work on the book and flesh stuff out, let’s talk about where it’s going (or supposed to go).

This will be a spoiler-lite discussion of my intentions and ideas for Neural Wraith 3. It will cover some of the stuff already in the preview chapters on Patreon.

Overview

The basic concept for this book is to explore the Altnet, and the way that Babylon, various companies, foreign governments, and the people perceive it and rely on it (and, naturall...

Self destruct

Bit of a dramatic title, but I've had a couple of exhausting days and I'm sitting in my new place full of boxes that I'm too exhausted to unbox, knowing that I need to finish a book. I wanted to give patrons a heads up, but didn't want to risk announcing this only for something to go wrong.

Short version: I'm delaying Neural Wraith 3 until March 31st. Amazon gives a single "get out of jail free card" when it comes to preorders to delay them up to 30 days and I plan to use mine to avoid...

Neural Wraith 3 Pre-order

Neural Wraith 3 is up for pre-order on Amazon, with a release date of March 14.

Amazon US: https://www.amazon.com/dp/B0BVYNXNT4

Amazon UK: https://www.amazon.co.uk/dp/B0BVYNXNT4

The early parts of the book feel a little like writing a cyberpunk thriller and the book description reads that way, but I expect to ease up on t...

Neural Wraith 3 - Cover

A cover that a few of you have seen before, but here's the official preview post.

Helena is the cover girl. This is her interface, the Exarch V3 that she's been installed into between Book 2 and Book 3. As the last book featured some shopping stuff about it, I figured that skipping over the installation process would be fine (as it wouldn't really benefit the book, compared to Helena having a physical presence). Instead I'll use Helena's new body to give her "adjustment" scenes, as well...

Neural Wraith 3 - Ch1-3

Chapter 1

The center of Neo Babylon tee

Change of plans

As people have probably guessed from my recent post, my stress levels are a little high. Between that and some IRL stuff, I decided to take a break this week to reevaluate where I'm at. It's helped me a lot, but also forced me to accept that I need to be a little more realistic.

In order to keep things running (somewhat) smoothly I'm changing the next book to Neural Wraith 3. It should be easily possible to get it done before my IRL deadline in March, which wouldn't have been possible ...

February Patreon Update

I said I needed to make a Patreon news update, so here's one. This one's mostly bad news, and includes some darker musings (probably for the last time ever).

I don't really need to repost my schedule anymore. It's always at https://www.kdrobertsonbooks.com/schedule now. I update it as I confirm new dates. The main upcoming ones are Spellblade 6 in mid-March (so long as I don't crash and burn) and audiobook...

Neural Wraith - Draft preview #2

I'll probably leave this draft preview up, but the final version (i.e. with some tweaks) won't be posted until much later.

This is the near-final version of the cover whose early draft I showed a while ago. Figured I'd post it here for any final feedback, as I'm about to finalize it with the artist.

The cover hits all the points I need to worry about commercially. Despite being full body, it pops enough that I'm not concerned about that aspect.

This is a more casual Kushiel....

Demon's Throne 3 Audio is Live

My recent long train of audio releases comes to an end today with the release of Demon’s Throne 3’s audio. I’m extremely happy with how the new version done by Stephanie Savannah and Podium came out, and I hope you are as well. There’s lots to enjoy in this book: lots of fluffy foxes, more Darus, and some twists and turns to keep you guessing.

Audible US: https://www.audible.com/pd/B0BQ3WYCY8

Aud...

Heretic Spellblade 6 - Ch1-3

Chapter 1

Knights streamed out of the p

Neural Wraith Draft Cover Preview

I'm still undecided on rewriting the first few chapters of Spellblade 6 and don't have the planning post ready yet, so have something different.

This is a draft of the Kushiel cover for a future Neural Wraith book. Usually I share these only briefly to solicit feedback, but in this case it's more just to showcase something cool.

I want Kushiel to have a mixed arrogant/casual vibe, and I think this draft captures that perfectly. I think her size comes across pretty well, between th...

Heretic Spellblade 6 - Cover

First 3 chapters in a day or two, but for now, enjoy the cover. I think many of you have already seen it, but here it is for those who haven't.

Seraph is the cover girl this time. She's not necessarily the primary focus of the book, but she should get some significant character advancement as she become a Champion-Bastion hybrid.

With that said, I'm really happy with how the artist depicted Seraph here. She has the mixture of elegance and seductiveness I try to give her, her dress...

Emperor Awakened Audio is Live

The audiobook for Emperor Awakened, the sequel to Emperor Forged is up on Audible. It includes an extra epilogue.

https://www.audible.com/pd/Emperor-Awakened-Audiobook/B0BQRTFS5L

If you haven't already bought it and you're in the US or UK store, let me know if you want a code for it. I've been busy and forgot about them.

Heretic Spellblade - Character Art (plus more commentary)

A batch of SFW character art for some of the champions of Heretic Spellblade. Yes, they're AI generated. If you're just here for the art, the list is below and the pictures should be above. Otherwise, there'll be some commentary attached. I won't really go into the ethics, as I talked about that last time. This is more about what's changed since.

Note that the canon appearances remain those of the book covers. Except maybe Fei (and Sen, as I know a lot of people have their own headcanon...

2023 Schedule

Time for a hopefully accurate publishing schedule for the year. After last year, I’m going with a more relaxed approach to my books. There may be extras in between, but this is just what I’m committing to in the hopes of finally getting on top of things. In practice, this doesn’t change my publishing pace (it’s still 4 book a year) but I’ll stop trying to compete with the book a month or faster folks, as it’s just not worth the hassle.

Before I jump into things, know that th...

Neural Wraith 2 - Detailed Commentary

Intro

As always, this is the commentary post for Neural Wraith 2.

This book was a weird one, mostly because of the many IRL aspects getting in the way and because I’m coming back from some pretty nasty burnout following Spellblade 5. While finishing it, I found that I was less exhausted than I’ve been… probably ever. I’ve never exactly gotten ahead of things (and delaying books would be financially devastating due to Amazon’s algorithm), so this is a nice change. The c...

Textless Covers (High Resolution)

Just a bunch of my old book covers without text, as I've previously only posted them with the text.

Neural Wraith 2's book cover can be found in it's recent post, as can the Sen art for the box set.

The NSFW emperor covers have their own post.

The artists for the first three Spellblade and first Demon's Throne cover is Caterina Kalymniou. CGlas did the rest of the Demon's Throne cover...